Excellence in Rangeland Conservation Award
This award is given annually to an individual or group that has demonstrated exceptional skill and knowledge in practicing sound management of rangelands in the State of Colorado.
Membership in the Society is not required. The recipient will be requested to attend the Section Annual Winter Meeting to receive the award. Public announcement of the award will not be made until the formal presentation at the Annual Winter Meeting.
Award nominations are due by July 1, 2024
To nominate someone for Excellence in Rangeland Conservation Award,
please click here for the award criteria and click here to nominate them!
Membership in the Society is not required. The recipient will be requested to attend the Section Annual Winter Meeting to receive the award. Public announcement of the award will not be made until the formal presentation at the Annual Winter Meeting.
Award nominations are due by July 1, 2024
To nominate someone for Excellence in Rangeland Conservation Award,
please click here for the award criteria and click here to nominate them!
Congratulations to 2023 Excellence in Rangeland Conservation Winner Prairie CanYon Ranch
Ben Perez (left) and Jamie Hull (center) accept the 2023 Excellence in Rangeland Conservation Award from Dan Nosal (right) CSSRM Director and Past-President at the 2023 Annual Section Meeting in Canon City.
The Prairie Canyon Ranch is one of the historic ranches of Douglas County. Today the ranch is owned by Douglas County Open Space who purchased the ranch in March of 2000 with the help of Great Outdoors Colorado and the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agriculture Land Trust. Jamie Hull, and his ranch manager Ben Perez, took over management of the ranch in 2016. The ranch is operated as a custom grazing system in conjunction with several other private leases. Jamie’s management philosophy is to work in sync with nature as much as possible. Calving occurs late May through June. Cows are small framed, and moderate milkers, that have been developed through careful genetic selection and culling. Through Jamie’s direction, prescribed multi-pasture time-controlled grazing management is being practiced, improving the quantity, variety, and quality of the grasses, forbs and shrubs. This grazing practice creates more vegetation and plant litter on the soil surface reducing the amount of bare ground. This increases water infiltration and improves the cycling of minerals, thereby helping to manage through drought. The current grazing management being implemented on the ranch is based on a holistic approach that considers the entire rangeland ecosystem in the decision-making process.
Presently the grazing program on the Prairie Canyon Ranch consist of eighteen permanent pastures that are further divided using temporary electric fence. Permanent cross fences consist of two-strand high-tensile wire for economy and wildlife friendliness. Top wire is white poly-coated providing high visibility for further wildlife friendliness.
A single herd of cattle is run through the multi-pasture grazing system for the entire year. Jamie adapts the grazing periods, and resulting recovery periods, to correspond with the rate of grass growth. Planned recovery periods average 90 days or longer. In the spring, with expected fast plant growth, grazing periods are planned as short as 3-5 days. Slower grazing rotation and longer recovery periods are usually planned to begin by July when plant growth rates slow down. Jamie and Ben are utilizing high stock density grazing as one of their tools to regenerate ecosystem health.
For Jamie’s prescribed grazing program, and to handle the increased water demand in the pastures, water development was implemented to increase the flow rate to water tanks reducing the recharge time. Livestock water development under the prescribed grazing system included drilling a new well, installing an electric submersible pump, and a fiberglass tank in a cell-center to support nine pastures. Fence layout was designed so that multiple pastures are watered with each tank.
The monitoring protocol being implemented by Jamie and Ben consists of permanent transect lines, permanent photo points, and grazing exclosure cages to monitor production. One of the major indicators Jamie is monitoring is the amount of stockpile or residual forage left in the pastures. This is key to their drought management and an indication of overall achievement of their grazing program. Range monitoring of ecosystem conditions has shown an increase in plant diversity and more production per acre.
Due to the prescribed grazing management implemented on the ranch the health of the range has improved. Today there is much more plant diversity consisting of increased cool season grasses and forbs. There is much less wind and water erosion due to the limited amount of bare ground. The ecological functions of nutrient cycles, water cycling, energy flow, and biotic community integrity have all improved as shown by the improved health of the rangeland and wildlife on the ranch.
Jamie and Ben have attended several grazing management workshops over the years, along with personal research efforts. This has enabled the high degree of range stewardship being applied on the Prairie Canyon Ranch.
Presently the grazing program on the Prairie Canyon Ranch consist of eighteen permanent pastures that are further divided using temporary electric fence. Permanent cross fences consist of two-strand high-tensile wire for economy and wildlife friendliness. Top wire is white poly-coated providing high visibility for further wildlife friendliness.
A single herd of cattle is run through the multi-pasture grazing system for the entire year. Jamie adapts the grazing periods, and resulting recovery periods, to correspond with the rate of grass growth. Planned recovery periods average 90 days or longer. In the spring, with expected fast plant growth, grazing periods are planned as short as 3-5 days. Slower grazing rotation and longer recovery periods are usually planned to begin by July when plant growth rates slow down. Jamie and Ben are utilizing high stock density grazing as one of their tools to regenerate ecosystem health.
For Jamie’s prescribed grazing program, and to handle the increased water demand in the pastures, water development was implemented to increase the flow rate to water tanks reducing the recharge time. Livestock water development under the prescribed grazing system included drilling a new well, installing an electric submersible pump, and a fiberglass tank in a cell-center to support nine pastures. Fence layout was designed so that multiple pastures are watered with each tank.
The monitoring protocol being implemented by Jamie and Ben consists of permanent transect lines, permanent photo points, and grazing exclosure cages to monitor production. One of the major indicators Jamie is monitoring is the amount of stockpile or residual forage left in the pastures. This is key to their drought management and an indication of overall achievement of their grazing program. Range monitoring of ecosystem conditions has shown an increase in plant diversity and more production per acre.
Due to the prescribed grazing management implemented on the ranch the health of the range has improved. Today there is much more plant diversity consisting of increased cool season grasses and forbs. There is much less wind and water erosion due to the limited amount of bare ground. The ecological functions of nutrient cycles, water cycling, energy flow, and biotic community integrity have all improved as shown by the improved health of the rangeland and wildlife on the ranch.
Jamie and Ben have attended several grazing management workshops over the years, along with personal research efforts. This has enabled the high degree of range stewardship being applied on the Prairie Canyon Ranch.
